History

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set t l em en t was den i ed . I t was the f i r st Rei chstag to end w i thou t the cl osi ng r ecess. I t i s im por tan t to note that the Pal at i nate was, i n f act , Cal v i n i st? ther e wer e no l egal p r ov i si on s r egar d i ng them , wh i ch l ef t them i n the r ather unusual si tuat i on of par tak i ng i n an i l l egal con f essi on w i thou t the con sequen ces of bei ng conv i cted of her esy ; they wer e, af ter al l , a sover ei gn state, thei r au thor i t y super seded on l y by that of the em per or . T he im m ed i ate r esu l t of th i s was the f orm al i sat i on of these two ex t r em es i n to al l i an ces. T he f i r st to com e i n to ex i sten ce was the Pr otestan t Un i on , l ed by the El ector al Pal at i nate. T h i s i n cl uded al l the m ajor Pr otestan t states excep t one: the El ector ate of Saxony, wh i ch st i l l cl ung on to the hope that con f essi onal d i f f er en ces cou l d be r eso l ved th r ough im per i al i n st i tu t i on s i n stead of by f or ce. T he other cam e i n to ex i sten ce the f o l l ow i ng year . T he Catho l i c L eague was f ounded by Bavar i a i n 160 9. By

1613, jo i ned , al ongsi de Spai n . T h i s was the f i r st r eal act i on by a non -Germ an power ; however , si n ce Aust r i a and Spai n both shar ed the sam e r u l i ng dy nast y, th i s d i d not r ep r esen t a si gn i f i can t step towar ds a m or e p r agm at i c app r oach to i n ter nat i onal r el at i on s (the sp l i t on l y occu r r ed af ter the abd i cat i on of Char l es V i n 1556). I n 1618, the con f essi onal ten si on s cam e to a bo i l i ng po i n t , and sp i l t over . W hen Fer d i nand I I ascended to the th r one of Bohem i a i n 1617, Pr otestan t Bohem i an nob l es wer e gr eat l y susp i ci ous of h im , as he had p r ev i ousl y been appo i n ted the Ar chduke of St y r i a, i n wh i ch posi t i on he had successf u l l y er ad i cated Pr otestan t i sm w i th i n ei gh teen m on ths. T hese susp i ci on s cam e abou t desp i te Fer d i nand r econ f i rm i ng Pr otestan t r el i gi ous f r eedom s af ter he had been el ected . T h i s was f u r ther m ade wor se by the con cl usi on of f ou r l egal d i spu tes Aust r i a had

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